Elizabeth Ridder's Generation Next
by DragonSlayer2187
Summary: This is the first story of my series Generation Next. Elizabeth Ridder has come to the mansion to hopefully help in the war against The Sovereigns and atone for her bloody past. What awaits her is nothing she ever expected, but just what she needed. Come join her in her X-Men adventures.
1. Chapter One: Arriving

_Disclaimer:__I don't own X-Men they belong to Marvel. Any original characters belong to my friends and I so please do not use them for any of your stories unless permission is given._

**Chapter One: Arriving**

Elizabeth Ridder loved driving down the road in her black 2012 Ford Mustang that sported two white racing stripes down the middle. Her foot bounced up and down to The American Rejects newest CD that she had just purchased in Saint Mary's. She had the stereo turned up to where it almost made her sensitive ears ring, but she didn't care. It happened to be playing her favorite song, and her slightly-southern accented soprano voice could be heard in the car singing along to it.

All of a sudden, a mechanical voice that didn't belong in the song popped in saying, "Turn at the next right."

"OH SHIT!" She yelled out as her foot slammed on the brake pedal, slowing down the car just enough to make the turn.

Elizabeth had just turned off of Highway 120, between Saint Mary's and Emporium, Pennsylvania to hopefully start a new life at Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning.

She had made the decision to leave her father's oil company, stationed in Huston, Texas, in the capable hands of her most trusted friend, James. He had after all been running it until she came of age, plus he had been with her family for as long as she could remember, and had for all that time remained loyal.

Her reason for leaving was that the news seemed to contain more and more violence against non mutants. There was one group in particular that seemed to be doing most of it and had even left messages declaring war on the humans: The Sovereigns. Being a mutant herself, though not out of the closet yet, she didn't want to see a war happen between the two species. Sure she didn't like how some of the humans treated her kind, but she didn't want to see them exterminated either.

So she packed up her things and decided to come to this place, Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning. In the mutant circles, there was a rumor going around that the school was a safe place for mutants and the home of the X-Men, Generation Next, who were fighting against The Sovereigns. It had been about three years since she had to fight and protect herself, and a part of her missed the excitement. She just hoped that she could still call on those instincts at a moment's notice, after not having to use them for so long.

_It's also been a long time since I have met another mutant._ She thought as the paved road gradually turned into gravel under the wheels of her car.

Soon, she passed between two posts made out of grey and white stone. Attached to each post was a wrought iron gate. When chained together, they would have blocked off the whole road so she couldn't pass, but right now they were open. On the right post hung a shiny silver plague with '_Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning'_ engraved in black words.

_Well, this place obviously has got money. Not that I'm not used to luxury, but it's been a long time since I've been surrounded by it. _Quickly she pushed this thought back. If she pondered on it for too long, her parents would come to mind and she did not want to be depressed for this meeting.

After passing the two imposing gates, a long driveway surrounded by trees came into her view for several miles. The sun was slowly sinking toward the horizon and what she could see of the sky had turned a beautiful orange-color with highlights of pink and blue. Elizabeth always loved this time of day. It signaled the end of an old day and the beginning of a new, and she hoped tomorrow would start a new future for her.

Elizabeth had become so distracted with her thoughts and looking at the sky that she didn't see that the road opened up into a big circular driveway. It finally dawned on her that there were no trees blocking her view of the beautiful sky, and as she looked down, she was surprised to find her car about to hit a big stone staircase leading up to a huge mahogany colored front door. Quickly, she slammed her foot down on the brake pedal and turned the wheel to the left, but because of the gravel the car ended up sliding around the curve of the driveway with small rocks and dust flying everywhere, before coming to a stop within inches of the stone steps.

_I need to focus more!_ Elizabeth scolded herself as she pried her hands, which had become glued to the steering wheel, off.

Turning the ignition switch to off, she then began to look around the car for her missing purse. Giving a shout of triumph, she yanked it from its new position on the back seat, before she took a deep breath and opened her car door. _Finally I'm here. _Elizabeth almost wanted to jump for joy at the thought as she got out of her Mustang and gave the mansion a once over.

_Wow it's bigger than it looked online, _she thought to herself as her slanted ice blue eyes took in the magnificent castle-like building in front of her. _My folks were rich, but nothing we've lived in comes close to this kind of luxury, _was her last thought as she continued to stare in awe at the mansion.

What really caught her attention was the way the building had been constructed. The middle of the mansion was three stories tall, with the roof looking like the top of a guard tower on a castle wall. The two buildings that branched off were two stories with a more normal looking roof. The whole thing had been done up in a gray and white stone, with the roofs of the two side buildings being built using dark brown shingles. Even the grounds around the building where very well kept, and she couldn't find a thing out of place, well except where you could see the indention and scattered gravel from her car's tires. It just screamed money and the pictures on the website didn't even come close to the real thing.

In fact it looked so different Elizabeth had to open her car door and glance at her GPS. _Yep, it's the right address, _she said to herself as she poked her head back out of the car and closed the door again.

Just as she stood up a light breeze, carrying the scents of earth, grass, and maple trees came blowing through the small clearing and picked up a strand of her black and white hair, blowing it into her slightly tan face. Quickly she tucked the strand of hair back behind her ear, before taking a deep breath of the fresh air. But with her sensitive nose, she picked out what a normal human would have missed: the smell of gasoline.

Ice blue eyes quickly started to scan the area that the breeze had came from and landed on a four-stall garage to the left of the main building. It had been done in the same grey and white stone and dark brown shingles as the main building, but of course, this building was smaller than the main one. Elizabeth couldn't help but hope they would allow her to keep her car, instead of having to call James and arrange for somebody to pick it up, and take it back home.

Moving her eyes off the building, Elizabeth decided she had stalled long enough and made her way up the grand stone staircase to knock on the two huge mahogany doors that made up the front entrance.

On her way up the stairs she continued to look around and pondered to herself, w_h__ere are the students? The website said this is a school, so where are all the kids? It's not dark yet and not that cold, but I can't hear anybody outside and playing. It's gives off the feeling of a trap and I don't like it. _Feeling a little uneasy with all the quiet, Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes mentally at herself and the slight paranoia that took over her consciousness every once in a while, before continuing her climb to the front door.

Finally, after a climb that seemed to take forever, she made it to the big mahogany doors, which she realized once she got a whiff of it, was actually oak and just stained to look like mahogany wood. Before she rang the doorbell, she took a deeper breath of air in around the door and got back the scent of aged oak, acid from the stain, dusty stone, and the regular outdoorsy smells, but the one smell she was looking for in particular was that of people, and it wasn't there. This meant that nobody had come and gone from this particular entrance for about a month or so. This didn't really bother Elizabeth too much; since she knew that there were probably multiple entrances to this place. The only people that might use the front entrance were new people, like herself, or people just coming to visit the inhabitants. So after the quick pep talk to herself, she lifted her left index finger and pushed the small white button surrounded by gold colored metal.

The loud chime that sounded from inside the house made her jump and cover her ears. It wasn't that it was louder than any other doorbell she had ever heard, but after the calm quiet outside and her already fried nerves, it sounded like she had been standing inside one of those big church bells. It left her ears ringing and her fried nerves even more fried.

_Well, if anybody's home, they're sure to hear that, cause I certainly did,_ she thought to herself as she rubbed her ears, trying to get the ringing to stop. _Bad thing with super hearing is that everything is louder, _Elizabeth complained in her mind as the ringing finally started to fade away.

She didn't know how long she stood outside waiting, for patience wasn't one of her strong suites, but the sun had gone down a few minutes ago and the air around her was starting to cool off. The other strange thing that put her even more on edge was that she hadn't heard anybody's footsteps coming to the door or throughout the house. Finally, her curiosity and patience ran out and she reached for the old-style gold-colored handle on the door. Pushing down with her thumb on the top latch, she let a small smile of triumph cross her face as it went down and gave a satisfying click.

_If the doors unlocked, somebody has to be here, _she mused to herself as she stuck her head through the opening she had made with the door.

Sliding her gaze around the room she didn't see anything out of place or that would make her think about not entering, so very slowly she slide her body through the rest of the doorway before closing it softly behind her. Once it closed and she was standing fully upright in the huge entry way, and nothing had jumped out at her, she let her body relax somewhat from its tensed state.

Now that she wasn't looking for danger, she let her eyes take in the beauty that surrounded her. The floor beneath her feet was a nice hickory wood floor that seemed to flow through the entire downstairs. Moving her eyes from the floor, she saw that the walls were a darker wood paneling halfway up the 10 foot walls, while the top half was painted a beautiful white color. They had many pictures and paintings of different areas, along with a few actual people, scattered on the walls. In front of her was a small sitting area with a cream colored couch facing away from her, a few same colored arm chairs, a black coffee table in the center, and a few plants in golden colored pots placed next to the couch and in-between the two arm chairs. Looking up she spotted a dark colored oak door directly across from where she was standing. _I am curious as to what is in there._ Elizabeth thought to herself as she let her gaze move off the door and scan the rest of the room she was standing in.

Her eyes quickly saw the big oak staircase, off to the left of the door, which had been stained the same rich mahogany color as the front doors. The staircase stretched all the way to a balcony, which branched off to the right and left, covering the whole open area before ending in a hallway on both sides. The railing on the balcony was also made of oak and stained the same rich mahogany color.

_I wonder if it's like my old home, and that's where the bedrooms are, or maybe they made it an office, or a hang-out area? _Elizabeth thought as she stared with curiosity shinning in her ice blue eyes.

She really wanted to explore up there, but reigned in her curiosity and decided the logical step would be to explore the lower level first. Hopefully, she would find somebody down here and would be able to get a grand tour afterwards.

Turning her gaze from the staircase she spotted three more doorways. Two of them were large archways with no doors leading into other areas of the house. The other one had French doors that were once again stained mahogany oak and had glass squares, so you could see in without having to open them. Satisfied with her browsing and still having seen nobody in this area, decided to call out and see if anybody answered. Taking a deep breath and covering her ears she yelled out, "HELLO! IS ANYBODY HOME?"

As fast as she could, she uncovered her human-looking ears, and morphed them into two white wolf ears that sat on top of her head. They twitched back and forth trying to pick up the smallest of sounds, but after standing there for a good five minutes without any sound what so ever, Elizabeth morphed her ears back into her human ones and walked over to the small sitting area. She stopped once she had reached the coffee table and looked at the right archway. She could see part of what looked like a kitchen and dining room. Seeing no movement in there she then moved her glance to the left archway and saw a pool table, so she figured it was the living room/recreation area. Then she moved her gaze to the oak door she had first spotted.

_Maybe I should go knock and see if somebody is there? _She wondered.

As she stood there trying to make up her mind if she should really go and explore without anybody knowing she is there, she let out a frustrated sigh, and when she inhaled more air she got a whiff of a couple scents. They were both pretty new, but they went off in two different directions.

One scent had the strong smell of chlorine, but after she took a deeper breath, she could pick up underneath it the faint smell of a summer thunderstorm with a slight hint of musk. Snorting to clear her senses, she identified it as a male scent and followed it to the staircase, which she assumed then went up to the second floor. She had already made the decision to ignore the second story, so she walked back to where she had been standing and decided to see where the second scent led.

Taking another deep breath through her nose, she began coughing and hacking all the while rubbing her nose to try and get the sweet, yet bitter smell out of it. The scent she had picked up smelled like somebody had left a pile of garbage out on the curb in the middle of summer.

_What in the hell can make that kind of smell? _Elizabeth asked herself in irritation.

Once she finally got the scent out of her nose, she analyzed what she could out of it. This scent, disgusting as it was, went off to the right. So with a reluctant sigh, she took a shallow intake of air through her nose, and started slowly following it toward what she thought was the kitchen. Every once in a while, she gave a short snort as the smell became too much for her sensitive nose, and she had to try and clear it.

As she drew closer to the doorway and more of the room was revealed she could hear arguing of some small high pitched voices. She immediately linked them to kids and got a smile on her face, but before she could take another step an older female voice interrupted them and everything immediately went quiet. Elizabeth hadn't been able to pick up what was said, as she was still too far away, even with her sensitive hearing, but it unnerved her that everything had went deathly quiet.

Not liking how she was about to expose herself to something completely unknown she quickly, but quietly, made her way to the wall that had the kitchen blocked off to the whole sitting area. Once there she pressed her back up against it and moved her gaze to the right. She could see directly into the dining area and was relieved to see it free of people, but this left a whole new dilemma, _how am I going to see this adult and judge if she is threat, without being seen. _Elizabeth thought to herself as she tried to figure something out.

Elizabeth had just decided to say screw it and just walk around the corner when a loud bang issued from upstairs and echoed throughout the house, followed by footsteps running down a hallway, her whole body stopped its forward movement and tensed up. Without even giving it a second thought she quickly transformed into what looked like a werewolf from the movies. A light coating of snow white fur covered her whole body. Her face elongated into a half muzzle to make room for her now longer canines, the top two canine tips could be seen peaking out over her bottom lip. Her ears were already in place and pinned back to the top of her head in anger and fear. A long white wolf tail had grown from the end of her tail bone and now stuck out straight behind her and vibrated in agitation. Her once human fingernails had turned black, lengthened, and grew into points, while at the same time hardening to an almost diamond like strength, to make deadly claws. A low growl could be heard from her new half-shifted form, making her look and sound even fiercer then before.

Without thinking of her next move her body automatically scrambled for the nearest hiding place, which just happened to be the couch that put her back to the front door. Her claws clicked the whole way there, but at this point she didn't care. She was running on adrenaline and fear, for her mind had immediately gone to this question, _what if this is a trap set up by Black Diamond?_

Once she reached the relative safety of the couch her ears sprang up and listened for any type of noise and her whole body had tensed and was ready to attack anything that moved. Her animal senses were screaming at her to turn around and make a hasty exit, but she fought that urge, for she wanted to see if this was really something set up by Black Diamond.

Elizabeth didn't know how long she actually stayed crouched behind the couch, but after what felt like a few minutes and not hearing anything she slowly shifted everything back to her human form, except her hands, which she kept behind the couch, before taking a deep breath and cautiously peered over the top of the couch.

After scanning the whole room and not seeing anything, she slowly transformed her hands back to human and stood up. Elizabeth could feel her muscles aching from staying tensed for so long, but she was still expecting for somebody to come out at any moment and attack her. Still scanning the room for any slight movement her eyes widened in shock when nothing made itself known. Turning her head to the balcony her eyes got even wider when nobody stood there looking at here.

_I could of swore I heard footsteps not two minutes ago heading for this area. Is this place freaking haunted or what_? Elizabeth ranted in her head.

Not feeling so threatened anymore, as nobody was there and the door was right behind her, she let the tension flow out of her muscles, before turning around to go back out the way she had come in. She had had enough of this place and would just call tomorrow before showing up again. _Maybe that way somebody will answer the damn door._ She huffed to herself.

She was reaching for the doorknob when a smooth, defiantly male, tenor voice spoke out above her, "Hello and welcome to my home."

**_Authors Note:_** _I know some of you are probably disgusted with me, as I deleted all my stories. Please don't be mad, but I finally got a beta reader and as such he is going over all my stories, so when I repost them they will be a whole lot better, I promise. This is the start of my Generation Next series. This is Elizabeth's story and coming soon I will be posting others as well. All of them will be from a role playing site, so the posting is going to be sporadic, because I will get chapters done as we play. That is all so please enjoy the new and improved version. Reviews are appreciated, but flamers I will ignore and delete. I also wanted to throw out a huge thank you to Hawk Strife for taking on my stories._


	2. Chapter Two: Meeting Jack

_Disclaimer:_ _I don't own X-Men they belong to Marvel. Any original characters belong to my friends and I so please do not use them for any of your stories unless permission is given._

**Chapter Two: Meeting Jack**

Elizabeth felt her body give a slight jerk at the sound of the voice behind her. With adrenaline pumping through her body and her heart beating a mile a minute, she automatically let her animal and fighting instincts take over. In the blink of an eye, she had swung her body around into a kneeling position called Sword Shield Recoil Stance, her unbound mid-back black hair, with white highlights, swung out behind her in a fan shape before settling against her back. The stance she had taken came from her ninjitsu training, but she had modified it a little to fit with her animals fighting instincts.

Her right arm came in close to her body, with her hand directly underneath her chin, while her left arm shot straight out in front, directly over the line of her left leg. Both of her hands had opened up, with the palms facing out and her fingers splayed open in a claw like fashion. Her fingernails she had lengthened and sharpened into points, while in the process of turning, and this had made them into small, but efficient slicing tools.

Her eyes had also changed to a rich butterscotch-yellow and the pupils had turned into cat slits. Her cat-like eyes tended to make objects more noticeable, and she searched the balcony in a sweeping fashion with them, looking for the owner of the voice. When she didn't find the owner up in the balcony, she started to scan down the long staircase. The entire scan she did within minutes, showing herself that she wasn't as rusty as she once thought.

It didn't take her very long to find the owner of the voice on the stairs, but when she did her eyes widened in shock. The person who had spoken was standing on the third to last stair, watching her with a smile on a strong square jaw and rugged face. The smile was fake, for it didn't reach his soft brown eyes; they only held fear and suspicion.

Elizabeth let out a low hissing growl at finding him so close and felt a tingle of unease shoot down her spine at how quick and quiet his movements had been. _How did he get so close so fast without me hearing his movements?_ She asked herself all the while not taking her eyes off the man in front of her.

She let out another warning hiss as the man raised his arms and started to walk down the last remaining steps toward her. He stopped on the last step when he heard her hiss and that is when she noticed his arms were only raised to his waist and the palms of his hands were facing toward her in the universal sign of "I mean you no harm."

Not trusting him to mean what his body was saying. _Was she being_ _paranoid? No Way!_ She started to scan his body for any hidden weapons.

She was guessing he stood about five foot eleven, give or take a few inches, because his midnight black hair stood up into spikes on top of his head, which seemed to make him look a little taller.

_That being said he still towers over me. Damn! I hate being short._Elizabeth grumbled to herself as she continued with her scan.

Bringing her eyes to his white skin-tight t-shirt, she saw it showed off the top-half of his body perfectly. His shoulders were wide and went into fit and lean muscular arms. His chest had a solid build and led into his abs, which were molded into a perfect six-pack.

_Wow, this guy is built, but it's all lean muscle. I've gotta say, I'm enjoying this view a little too much._ Elizabeth thought to herself as she began looking for any weapons instead of ogling the possible threat.

The great thing with the t-shirt being so tight, besides showing off his body, it made it all but impossible to hide any weapons. If he had worn a harness for a gun, sword, or knife, it would have shown right through the material of his shirt and make it bulge in places that no muscles would ever bulge.

Moving her gaze downwards she found baggy black shorts hanging low on a narrow set of hips. The shorts were hanging so low that she could just make out the top of his underwear, which were a gray color. Once again the clothes were not meant to hide weapons, but she looked closely at the waistband, just in case. Not seeing anything there that was out-of-place she moved down to the bottom of the shorts, which stopped right at his knees. There was nothing there that she could make out and after the shorts, all that was left was a nice pair of toned calves and feet with brown flip-flops on them.

_Well, at least I got a nice show._ Elizabeth smiled to herself at the thought and slowly stood up from her kneeling position. _He doesn't have any weapons on him, but that doesn't mean he's unarmed. I don't know what kind of power he possesses yet, but if he tries anything I'll still have my hands, daggers, and the throwing knives._ She told herself.

At seeing her stand up and lower her arms to her sides the man let his arms and hands down also, but made no move toward her. She watched as his eyes moved over her body, like she did his, but not once did his fake smile fall off his face. She let a small smile take over her face when she saw his eyes widen when they landed on her fingernails. For a second his expression changed to one of curiosity, before moving back to the neutral, empty smile look. As his eyes moved to her waist she saw him raise an eyebrow before once again turning neutral.

_Oh crap, he must have been able to see my waist holder underneath my pants._ She cussed at herself as she self-consciously pulled the end of her blue long-sleeved shirt over the waistband of her dark blue jeans. _I don't think he caught where my daggers might be though_. She hoped and prayed to herself. _To catch my holder, he must have done this sort of thing before. I wonder._ Taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves a little she got a whiff of his scent and smiled to herself. _So, you're the one that smells like a thunderstorm. Oddly enough that scent has a calming effect on me. Weird._

She came out of her thoughts when she noticed some movement from him and saw that he seemed done with his own scan of her and had come to some sort of conclusion. He looked her in the eyes, all the time never dropping the neutral smile act, and said in a slow and cautious voice, "My name is Jack Ortiz or Mindcontrol, which is my mutant name, and I help run the school." Then he stopped and his smile dropped. His face took on a completely calm look and when he spoke his voice had dropped an octave and held a hard edge to it as he said, "Now that I have told you who I am, would you please be so kind as to tell me who you are and why you broke into our home?"

_I should've waited outside._ Elizabeth thought as she cleared her throat and glanced away from him, trying to hide the blush of embarrassment that had taken over her cheeks. _I suppose I should tell him who I am and how this whole mess happened._She told herself, before taking in a deep breath and moving her head back up to meet with his eyes, as she introduced herself.

"My name is Elizabeth Ridder and as for being in your house uninvited, I did ring the door bell, but nobody ever came to answer the door." At this, the man named Jack's face lost its calm look and turned into one of guilt and confusion, but before he could answer Elizabeth went on. "I let my impatience get the better of me and tried the door handle. Finding it unlocked, I made my way inside hoping to find somebody to talk to, I even yelled 'hello'." Elizabeth could feel her anger rising at the situation as she retold it and gather courage from that, decided to take it out on Jack, who was standing right in front of her looking guilty. Pointing a clawed finger at him, she saw his body tense up, but she ignored it and purposely left out her little episode with the kitchen and couch, and let him have it, "I was getting ready to leave and come back some other time, preferably after I got somebody on the phone. Then you popped out of nowhere and scared me half to death." Jack's look of guilt melted off his face and a smirk of amusement replaced it.

This only fueled her anger more to think he was laughing at her, so Elizabeth decided to tell him how it could have happened, "You're lucky I can control myself or you would have found yourself laid out flat on the floor dead. I don't take kindly to people sneaking up on me, so don't ever do it again." Her voice had taken on a more serious tone and Jack must have heard it for his smirk fell and his eyes widened a bit in shock. This made Elizabeth feel a little better and so she told him the reason she was here in the first place, "All I really wanted to know is if I could make this place my home for a while."

Elizabeth watched Jack as he stared at the floor. Many emotions went across his face before he seemed to settle on one. Bringing his face and eyes back up to hers, this time he had a real welcoming smile on and his eyes had lost the fear and mistrust from before.

"I am sorry if no one answered the door. I must have still been in the shower when you rang the doorbell, for I never heard it." Jack said while offering her his hand to shake.

Elizabeth could smell that he was being honest about not hearing the doorbell and with the real smile in place she didn't feel like this was a trap anymore, so she morphed her fingernails back to human, giving a smirk in satisfaction as she saw his eyes widen a little, and took his offered hand giving it a firm shake. "It's fine and sorry for getting angry. I got frustrated and you're the first person I saw so I took it out on you." Elizabeth said as they finished their handshake.

Jack took his hand back and visibly relaxed his tensed muscles, before giving her a lopsided smirk and saying, "That's okay."

_Oh my God. I wonder if he knows what that smirk does to the female population._ Elizabeth thought to herself all the time trying to keep the blush off her face.

Feeling a little awkward now, Elizabeth asked, "So, umm you never really did answer my question about staying here?"

A sheepish look took over Jack's face for a few minutes before it vanished and he gave her another warm smile, "As for staying here, of course you can Elizabeth." His smile seemed to widen a bit more and his eyes sparkled with some untold humor, as he said her name.

Elizabeth seemed puzzled why her name would be humors to him, but figured she would find out later. Just then, she realized that he had started talking again and tuned into what he was saying.

"All mutants are welcome here, as long as they mean us no harm." Jack's voice had lost its humor at the part about meaning no harm, and he had bowed his head. It looked to her like he was trying to glare holes through the floor, all the while with a frown on his face, but he seemed to give his body a little shake and came back to normal before looking up at her with a fake smile once again plastered on his face.

_There is something behind that last part. _Elizabeth thought still watching Jack closely. He seemed to know what she was about to ask, for he quickly changed the subject by asking her, "If I may be a bit bold, but what exactly is your mutant ability?"

Taken aback by the quick change of subject and not wanting to reveal too much about herself yet, it took Elizabeth a few minutes to sort out her thoughts. _He has seen me shift my nails, so it would probably be a good idea to tell him about that, but he really doesn't need to know about my healing abilities just yet or what my blood can do for somebody._

When she had decided on what to tell him she met his eyes and said, "I'm a type of animal shifter. I'm connected to two types of animals, a white Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf and a black African Leopard."

Jack nodded his head and asked, "When you say shift, can you only do a full body shift or can it be a half shift also?"

"You must have met some mutants who can shift before." Elizabeth stated to which Jack just gave her a knowing smile, but didn't say anything.

"I guess you aren't going to tell me then." Elizabeth said with her eyebrow raised as she gave him her best knowing look back.

Once again Jack just gave her another infernal smirk, but remained mute. _I'm really starting to hate that look._ Elizabeth growled in her head.

Giving a sigh of frustration and giving into his question she began to explain, "As an answer to your question, I can do both the shifts you mentioned, but I have so much control that I can shift any part of my body to whatever I would like."

Deciding that it would be easier to show him what she meant, instead of trying to explain it, she morphed her ears into those of her leopard and had a long sleek black tail grow out from her tail bone. She started to swish it back and forth once it had fully grown.

Jack's face was a mask of surprise, which turned into a smile as he saw her tail appear. He nodded his head at her and said, "That is quiet interesting. I have never heard of one person being able to control all parts of their body in the shift. Normally it is only half shifting and full shifting. You have a very unique ability."

Elizabeth gave him a smile of gratitude at his praise, showing off her now somewhat longer canines, before shifting herself back to normal. "I didn't tell you this, but my eyes also change colors. They are butterscotch yellow and the pupil becomes slitted like a cats, when I am using the leopard. When I change to my wolf they turn into an icy blue color and lose the slitted pupil."

Once again she decided to show him, so she pushed her leopard back into the space she had made for it in her mind and brought forth her wolf, from that same area.

Her eyes turned once again into the icy blue color she had when arriving at the mansion and the pupils went back to a normal. She saw Jack get a huge smile on his face, and he seemed to become excited like a little kid on Christmas. She soon found out why.

"Your eyes change to blue? Same here!" Jack said in a rush.

Giving him a smile, Elizabeth, asked, "But they aren't blue now, why is that?"

"Oh," Jack said, "Mine only turn blue as a secondary response when using my powers; they have a tendency to glow, which allows me to track movements of other people." He finished with a small smirk.

"I see." Elizabeth stated before coming up with another question, "I told you what my powers are, could you tell me what yours are? I figured with a name like Mindcontrol, you have some type of mind reading power?"

Jack's smile fell a little and he said, "Yes, I do have a mind reading power, but I don't use it much anymore, and if I do use it, I ask for permission first. The abilities I do use the most however are my telekinetic abilities, which allow me to create psychic shields and fly for a short time."

Once Jack finished, he gave her another one of his puddle making smirks, before asking her, "So now that you know my abilities, how would you like to go find a room and get a tour of the place."

_I wonder why he wants to get off the topic of his powers so quickly._ Elizabeth wondered before shrugging it off as something she would find out later.

To her, finding a room and getting settled sounded better than digging into people's pasts. The tour also sounded good, since she was very curious about this place. _For t__his being a place that's supposed to hold the X-Men, it seems way too normal. Maybe the rumor mills where wrong for once._ She thought as she gave Jack a smile and said, "I would love to find a room and get a tour."

"Great, let's head upstairs then and get you a room." Jack said with enthusiasm.

Elizabeth nodded her head and began walking toward him as he waited for her at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as she was next to him he turned and they started walking up the staircase side by side.

Feeling a little awkward with the silence, Elizabeth asked a question that had been on her mind since arriving and just as they were reaching the top of the stairs she asked, "Aren't there other mutants who stay here?"

_**Author's Note:**__ Well, here is the second chapter for this story. I am sorry it took so long, but there were some creative differences between one of my friends and me on how the mansion looked on the inside. We have finally agreed on how it looks and so here is the finished second chapter. My awesome beta reader Hawk Strife has the third chapter now, so it shouldn't take too long before it is also posted. I plan on getting this one caught up to where we are on the role-playing boards, so expect more chapters. Thanks again for your patience. _


	3. Chapter Three: Bedroom and Tour

Disclaimer: _I don't own X-Men they belong to Marvel. Any original characters belong to my friends and I so please do not use them for any of your stories unless permission is given._

**Chapter Three: Bedroom and Tour**

Jack stopped at her question. One foot was on top of the stairs and the other was still on the last step. He turned his head toward Elizabeth with a big grin on his face as he answered, "Oh yeah, this house is packed with people. I sometimes lose track of how many people live here with all the coming and going."

Elizabeth gave him a surprised look before saying, "Oh, I was just wondering since I haven't seen anybody except you."

"Yeah it is pretty quiet now, but we just got a family of five in and I believe the four youngest are downstairs in the kitchen with Avriletta making cookies now." Jack said as he turned to head down the right side of the balcony.

_That IS a big fam. I can't believe they have room for them, and it sounds like more than just them._ Elizabeth thought before another question popped into her mind and she was just about to ask it when a loud bang issued from the kitchen area below them.

Elizabeth gave a little jump at the loud sound. After a short awkward silence, she shot a mischievous smile at Jack's cringing expression, "Do I even want to know?"

If possible, Jack's face scrunched up even more before it relaxed a little and he said, "Don't worry about that, I am sure Avriletta can handle it. Let's take you to your room, follow me."

With that said, he turned around and started heading in the same direction as before, but he didn't turn around quick enough to avoid Elizabeth seeing the worried and exasperated look in his eyes. _Oh I'm sure she's handling it alright._ Elizabeth giggled to herself before she remembered the question she was going to ask.

"How old is this family of five?" Elizabeth's curiosity had peaked because of the noise downstairs.

"Well, the oldest is Nadja who is seventeen, then after her is Elijah and he is eleven. Then its Helena who is ten, Lars who is seven, and last is Haneka who is five." Jack stated as they entered a long hallway that had thirteen doors on the right hind side and windows on the left that showed off the magnificent view of the grounds out front.

"Wow, they are so young. I expected at least one of them in at least their twenties." Elizabeth stated as they continued to pass by two of the doors.

_It would also explain why he's worried about the kitchen downstairs._ She thought, once again getting a mischievous smile on her face. _ Oh the chaos I could cause with the youngest four._ She came out of her scheming by Jack's voice.

"Yeah that is why they are here. Needed somebody older to look after them, not that Nadja wasn't doing a good job; it was just a little too much for her." Jack said sadly as they finally stopped at the last door on the right hand side.

_Poor girl, I wonder what happened to their parents._ Elizabeth thought as she felt a small bit of sympathy for them. Then she remembered Jack said only the four youngest were downstairs, so she decided to ask, "Where is Nadja, if she isn't downstairs with her siblings?"

Jack turned to look at her while saying, "Oh Nadja, Kitty, and Keiy are out now…" He paused for a few minutes and glanced down at the floor, before bring his gaze back to her with a fake smile saying, "but they will be back soon."

_Wonder what that was all about?_ Elizabeth asked herself and was just about to ask if everything was okay, but Jack was already on to a different subject.

"So, want to see your assigned room now?" Jack was clearly trying to distract her from asking too many questions at the moment.

"Sure." Elizabeth deadpanned, while studying Jack to try to figure out what he is hiding.

Jack choose to ignore her by grabbing the gold door handle that sat on a mahogany stained oak door, twisting it, he than push it open while saying, "Here you are. This room is all yours." He then moved to one side so she could go in and take a look.

Elizabeth stood shocked by how big the room actually was. The whole room had been painted a nice dark beige, with pictures of the surrounding area in different seasons, scattered on the walls. On the right hand wall sat a king sized bed with a black iron headboard and foot-board. A royal blue comforter with black swirl designs on it covered the bed. Elizabeth couldn't help herself and ran over to the bed and laid a hand on the comforter to find it was as soft and fluffy as it looked.

She then spotted two white pillows with frills along the edges that sat against the headboard, and underneath them she could make out two more lumps beneath the comforter. She quickly reached out and grabbed one of the pillows and hugged it to her body and found it very soft and comforting. She brought her head from the pillow and saw that a small cherry table sat on the left hand side of the bed and on top of it sat a black reading lamp. A big smile formed on Elizabeth's face as she saw this and thought _it's like they knew I was coming._

Putting the pillow back on the bad, she made her way over to the closed French doors on the opposite wall. Taking a deep breath, she pulled open the doors and found a large walk-in closet. She almost wanted to squeal in delight, but held it in as she walked in to explore. On the right side there was a bar going along the wall to hang many outfits, though it was empty at that moment. The back wall had completely been dedicated to shoe storage and Elizabeth couldn't wait to fill it up. On the left wall were multiple shelves to put sweaters, hats, and even a place for multiple weapons. Beside the open doors were drawers to put your underwear and pants. Just below eye level was a place to put jewelry and make up. Elizabeth didn't know if she should cry or yell for joy at the lengths they went to make sure a person was comfortable. _I think I've died and gone to heaven. _She thought as she walked out of the closet.

Turning to her right, she let out a soft gasp as she saw a huge bay window with a sitting area. Walking over to it, she leaned down on the soft royal blue cushions and peered outside. It was completely dark out with only the light of a half-moon to illuminate things. She quickly pushed the wolf back and called up her leopard to aid her in seeing through the darkness. She could make out the pool and basketball court in the backyard and further out she could see a large stone, flanked by smaller ones. After that, it was just trees and if the sparkle she was getting farther out was anything to go by then there was a lake farther out.

Turning from the view, she noticed that on the left there was a spot left open for her to put anything in. She instantly decided to get a bookcase and put it there for her huge collection of books. _Hopefully they have something I can use, if not I can also go buy one._ Elizabeth said to herself as she turned back to find Jack still standing in the doorway to her room, watching her with an amused expression on his face.

"Do you like it?" Jack asked when he noticed her eyes on him.

"I love it. Though the closet and drawers I might have a problem filling, but I am sure the longer I stay here the more things I will acquire." Elizabeth stated before letting her eyes once again scan the room, this time noticing the full length mirror just behind the door coming into her room.

"I am glad." Jack said before bring a hand up to his head and scratching the back of it, while saying, "Your next door neighbors are the two younger girls, Helena and Haneka. If you have problems with them let me know and I can take care of it." Jack dropped his hand, looking at her.

Elizabeth gave him a reassuring smile and said, "That is okay, I actually love kids so it shouldn't become a problem. I do have a question about the room though," now it was Elizabeth's turn to be shy as she turned her eyes to the floor.

Jack gave her a confused look before smiling at her, "You can ask anything. You don't have no reason to be shy, you are among friends here."

Elizabeth didn't know how to thank him for that so she decided to just ask her question "Is there a spare bookcase anywhere I can use. I love to read and have a huge collection of my own books that I would like to keep in my room."

Jack's face scrunched up as he seemed to go into deep thought before his face finally relaxed. He opened up his eyes all the way, giving her an apologetic look, "We don't have any extra bookcases that I'm aware of."

Elizabeth's face fell a little at this and Jack caught on as he continued, "But, we could drive into town to get you a proper bookcase, though we do have a library downstairs, if you wish to read something else."

Elizabeth could feel her excitement grow at the prospects of going into town to do some personal shopping, but it paled in comparison once she heard they had a library. _I wonder what kind of books they have in there. _She couldn't help but want to go down there now and check it out, but first she wanted to let Jack know what she thought about his idea of going into town.

"If we could go into town and pick up a bookcase that would be great. Also, as much as I love libraries, I like reading in a nice quiet place, which is normally my room. It lets me relax and forget about the stress from the day." Elizabeth said as she started to walk towards Jack and the entrance for her room.

"Yeah, it is really quiet up here for the most part." Jack said as he backed out into the hallway to let Elizabeth come out.

"That is nice to know." Elizabeth stated as she reached over to the door handle and pulled it closed. Turning to Jack an awkward silence fell between them for a few minutes before Elizabeth decided to ask her next question. "Are we going to do the tour now and then go into town to get my bookcase? We can even take my car parked outside." Elizabeth threw in, thinking he might be more willing to go if she offered a ride.

She saw Jack's eyes get a look of panic in them when she asked about going into town and couldn't help but get curious about why he would panic at something as simple as going into town. He became even more suspicious when he put up his calm honest face while answering her question. "Sure, we can do the tour now, but as for going into town…" He paused once again before continuing, "it's already night and most of the places will be closed. Why don't we just put that off till tomorrow?"

Elizabeth, with her keen senses, picked up that he was lying instantly. When a person lies they always have some type of tell, most of the time it was something in their face, while others changed slightly in their scent. For Jack, it was definitely his scent. _What are you hiding from me? This isn't the first time you've acted strange when certain things come up._ Elizabeth analyzed to herself while her eyes narrowed and she gave Jack another studying look.

She could swear he almost squirmed under her look, but she let him go after a few minutes and said, "Yeah a tour would be great."

She could almost see his whole body relax as he let out a small sigh, which her ears picked up, before he gave her a real smile again and said, "Alright, let's go back downstairs. I can point things out as we go." He finished as he took off down the hallway, not even giving her a warning that he was leaving.

"Hey! Wait up!" Elizabeth's shocked voice said as she tried to catch up to his long strides.

Jack had thankfully stopped in front of one of the doors in the middle of the hallway. Elizabeth, after catching up, stood beside him looking at the door in curiosity.

"This is the bathroom for this floor. The only mutants who have bathrooms in their rooms are Liz, Kitty, ECKS, and I. In here there are four shower stalls, four toilet stalls, and four sinks. This is the girls and in the other hallway there is one for the boys. Please remember to either take clothes with you if you are going to shower or a towel to cover yourself up." Jack's face took on a grimace at remembering something and Elizabeth couldn't help, but get a picture in her head of a red Jack running into a naked little girl.

She couldn't help herself and gave out a short laugh at the image. Jack gave her a withering look before turning once again and taking off down the hall. This time he didn't get far before Elizabeth caught up to him still chuckling at her own mental image. They had just reached the balcony that led to the stairs when she realized she didn't have a clue where they were going.

"So, where are we headed?" Elizabeth asked

"I am going to show you the first floor of the mansion, before we move on to the more interesting parts of the house." Jack cryptically stated.

_What the heck is so interesting in this house? He couldn't mean where the X-Men part is, could he?_ Elizabeth pondered this for a second before asking, "What's are first stop on the ground floor?"

"I'll take you to the kitchen first. That way, you can meet some of the people we were talking about earlier." Jack said waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her to catch up.

Elizabeth stopped in the middle of the stairs feeling her panic take over. Jack gave her a curious look before he came back up the remaining stairs and grabbing her shoulder, getting her to look at him. "What's wrong?" He asked giving her face a searching look.

"Honestly?" Elizabeth asked in a small voice.

At Jack's head nod, Elizabeth turned her head away letting her hair form a curtain between his stare and her face before taking a deep breath and saying, "I'm scared to meet new people." Turning so she was looking at him again, she continued, "It's not that I'm scared that they might hurt me physically, but emotionally. I've been rejected so many times once they find out my powers that it's made me a little people shy." She put up a hand to stop him from saying anything before going on, "I know we are all the same here, it's just more like I'm scarred on how they will receive me. As long as it's not a big group I will be fine, but if it's a big group I might freak out." At this she moved her gaze to stare at her red heels.

She felt Jack's hand under her chin and then felt as he applied pressure for her to look at him again. Once he saw he had her attention on him, in a kind, soft voice he said, "Don't worry, we are all in the same boat. If something is making you uncomfortable please tell us and we will try to help you out as much as we can." At her small smile, he continued as he removed his hand from her chin, "The people I am going to introduce to you now are Avriletta and the kids. Can you handle that?" He asked giving her a questioning look.

Elizabeth thought about it for a minute before nodding her head yes. Seeing her nod; Jack grabbed her hand and led her down the rest of the stairs. As soon as they left the stairs, Jack dropped her hand, before looking back to make sure she was still following him. When he saw that she was actually almost beside him, he turned back to the room they were in, stopped, and opened his arms in a big gesture and said, "This here is the entrance and waiting room." Putting his hands down he turned and pointed a finger at the door she had thought about going through earlier. "That is our leader Nightcat's room. I am using it at the moment while she is out." At this he again lowered his gaze and a worried look took over his face as he mumbled something that she was sure she wasn't suppose to hear, but did, "Hopefully she will be back soon." He shook his head a small amount before turning to her with another fake smile.

_I am so sick of the little hints I keep getting. Wish he would just come out and say in plain English what the hell is going on._ Elizabeth grumbled to herself before pushing it to the back of her mind and giving Jack a small smile.

Seeing he still had her attention Jack then pointed towards the right of them and said, "That is the living room and den. We have tons of movies and games for you to play and even a pool table. I will let you explore it after I show you the kitchen and dining room." Jack explained before heading toward the archway she hid by when she first came in.

As they walked across the open floor, Elizabeth noticed another door and what looked like elevator doors. The elevator doors were stationed on the wall next to the stairs, which would explain why she missed them the first time. The other door was stationed on the other wall and had been hidden by the front door as she opened it.

Jack was just passing by the French doors with the glass, when he stopped abruptly almost making Elizabeth run into him. "Sorry about that." Jack said with a sheepish grin before throwing his thumb in the direction of the French doors, "I just thought you would like to know where the library is."

Elizabeth couldn't help the smile that took over her face at the word library. "I will have to go check it out tomorrow after a good night's sleep." She said as they once again continued on their path to the open doorway.

Elizabeth couldn't help but lick her lips at the mouth-watering smell of something sweet baking. The smell only intensified as they drew closer to the kitchen. They were almost to the doorway when her stomach let out a loud growl.

Elizabeth couldn't help the embarrassing blush that spread across her cheeks and wrapping her arms around her stomach, tried to hide the blush by ducking her head. Jack stopped and turned his head to give her a curious and amused look. Feeling his gaze Elizabeth reluctantly brought her head back up and met his soft brown eyes with her own butterscotch ones and gave a small embarrassed smile before saying, "I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. What did you say the kids where making?"

"Chocolate chip cookies, I believe." Jack said giving her a crocked grin. "If they are ready maybe you can snatch a few."

"That sounds like a plan to me." Elizabeth said as Jack turned back around and made the last few steps to the opening, only for both of them to stop and stare in horror at what used to be a kitchen.

_**Authors**_ **_Note:_**_Hello everybody. As you can see I have done a bit more editing, as I was reading through these three chapters I just noticed a few things Hawk Strife and I had missed and so I am just doing some little tweaks, nothing major. As for the next chapter I hope to have it up soon. It is taking me a lot longer, in the fact I am introducing five people to Elizabeth all at once and it can become somewhat difficult to do these introductions all at one time and try to keep it interesting, since it is a lot of descriptions. Don't worry I also have some dialogue going on and I really do hope it doesn't become to bogged down with the descriptions. I once again thank you for reading this and do leave reviews. They give me an awesome high and motivate me to finish chapters sooner. I will take constructive criticism, but flamers I will delete and report. You have been warned._


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